Chronicle Editor
Mehluli Sibanda in Johannesburg, South Africa
THE Old Mutual sponsored Zimbabwe Under-18 Coca-Cola Craven Week coach Scott Gray has described his team’s opening match against Leopards at St Stithians College today as an immense challenge.
Gray expressed satisfaction with the way they had prepared for the Craven Week, saying today’s encounter against the North West province boys would give him an indicator of the progress his lads have made.
The Zimbabwe-born former Scotland captain took over as Craven Week coach from long term gaffer Godwin “Jaws” Murambiwa.
“It’s a massive challenge for us. I am really excited to see how the preparations have gone. We need to see how we are and this is the first test to see that. We have used the two days of training as much as possible. We have some boys carrying knocks, but nothing serious. We don’t know much about Leopards, we haven’t seen them play,” said Gray.
Rivaldo Kwidini, Tadiwanashe Mabhudhu and Brendan Mudzikitiri make up the front row. Dexter Trail and Davin King will scrum down in the second row with skipper Jack Charsley, Ryan Smith and Ronald Mirimi. Dillon Brain is the man to throw the ball in the scrum and retrieve it during the breakdown at scrumhalf, making up a halfback pairing with Tinashe Hombiro at flyhalf.
Tafadziswa Bunu and Lameck Vheriwa will start on the wings, with Mazvitaishe Nyamarebvu at inside centre and Tadiwa Muchemwa on the outside and Tapiwa Marimira as the last man in defence at fullback.
The Zimbabwean lads trained on Sunday and yesterday after arriving in Johannesburg on Saturday evening.
Yesterday, they held a fine tuning session in the morning at Queens High School where the two teams are based prior to attending the official opening ceremony at St Stithians College.
@Mdawini_29
Bongani Ndlovu